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By Kirsty, May 31, 2011 12:17 pm

We’ve been in Scotland showcasing Amnesty International’s celebratory banner on one of our lovely  hot air balloon baskets with pilot Brad Smith.

Our beautiful Perth City Centre launch site was home to our basket for the morning with Pilot Brad on hand to hand out leaflets and talk ballooning. With lots of interest from local people we met a wee Scotsman eager to see what the basket looked like.

Two year old Craig Laing, who lives in Perth, was visiting the North Inch open fields to feed the ducks with Grandma Etta Laing. We couldn’t possibly let him leave without
a miniature Virgin balloon and a certificate signed by pilot Brad and endorsed
by Sir Richard Branson.

Let’s hope the Perthshire winds don’t take Craig and his bike to the skies!

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By Eve, May 23, 2011 2:11 pm

Mid-May saw Perth Racecourse’s most glamorous event of their vibrant calendar; Ladies’ Day.

As well as an exhilarating day at the races, race-goers relish the opportunity to vie for coveted titles such as ‘Best Dressed Lady’, ‘Best Hat/ Fascinator’, ‘Best Dressed Gentleman’ and, to mark the Ladies Day association with Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the award for ‘Best Pink Outfit’.

Being dressed to impress certainly paid off for these lucky ladies who all won prizes for their outfit efforts. We look forward to welcoming Debbie Anderson (seen here on the right) from Aberdeen aboard one of our iconic Virgin balloons on a Champagne balloon ride as the prize winner for the ‘Best Dressed Lady’. Other prizes awarded were a £500 VIP personal shopper experience at Perth Debenhams, weekend camping tickets to the 80’s Rewind Festival at Scone Palace Park, a private cookery demonstration provided by the Anglers Inn and a round of golf for four at Murrayshall Hall Golf course plus may others. Fabulous!

Ladies Day saw seven races and in-between each race race-goers were treated to live entertainment, a Zumba presentation and a multitude of fashion shows.

Perth Racecourse is situated in the stunning parkland of historic Scone Palace, a short distance away from our Perth Airport launch site at Scone. A flight from Perth in a hot air balloon is a truly magical experience with views over this breath-taking region affording birds’ eye views of the Palace grounds, panoramic views over Perth city and the Racecourse over to the River Tay.

Visit our site to hop into a hot air balloon and fly from Perth.

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By Eve, May 17, 2011 2:24 pm

Next week sees the celebration of National Balloon Week commencing May 22^nd 2011.

A balloon is simply a flexible bag inflated with a gas such as helium, hydrogen or oxygen and can be made from material such as rubber, latex or nylon. Even dried animal bladders have been used in the past to make balloons; lovely!

In 1824, whilst experimenting with different gases, Michael Faraday invented the most common type of balloon, the rubber balloon.

In 1782, whilst watching a bonfire the French Montgolfier brothers, realised that warm air was lighter than cool air and set about filling a bag with hot air to see if it would fly. The rest is history as they say.

In contrast, in the 1970s, metalized plastic film began to be used to create pretty decorative floating foil balloons filled with helium.

As well as for fun, balloons are used as flying machines for transport, pleasure trips, defence and meteorology.

It goes without saying that here at Virgin Balloon Flights we love balloons, not least because balloons tend to conjure images of colour, happiness and celebration.

Balloons can also symbolise something special; a birthday, a party, happiness, togetherness and in
the case of hot air ballooning – daring, romance and adventure! Just visit our gallery and you’ll get
the idea.

So to experience a magical balloon ride in one of our beautiful big red iconic balloons and feel part of ballooning history, take a look at our range of balloon flights that take off from almost every corner of England, Scotland and Wales.

You can also find out more about the ballooning experience by visiting us on Facebook and by following us @VirginBalloons on Twitter.

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By Kirsty, May 3, 2011 6:16 pm

What is the Staff Connection Trip?
The Virgin Unite Staff Connection Trip is a week of hands on volunteering in South Africa with our partner Pride ‘n Purpose, the charitable arm of Ulusaba, Sir Richard’s private game reserve. Pride ‘n Purpose work on a non-profit basis and are committed to the upliftment of disadvantaged communities living adjacent to the reserve. They provide clean drinking water, help to tackle health issues, provide food, build crèches, orphanages and schools and support young entrepreneurs with sustainable ways to generate income.

Each year ten lucky Virgin staff are hand picked to be part of this amazing opportunity. This year the team of ten Virgin staff from across the Virgin Group have been fundraising up a storm to raise £10,000 for project ‘pimp my crèche’ where the team will transform the newly built crèche by building a playground, plant a food garden, paint wall murals and build a tree-house and that’s just for starters!! The team will also be spending a day in Johannesburg with the Branson Centre entrepreneurs.

Fundraising has included lots of incredible looking bake sales, pub crawls, royal wedding cat walk shows (we love you Wills and Kate), drinks and canapés, personal training sessions, South Africa themed breakfasts among many other fun and creative methods of reaching their target.

So who’s in the lucky team of 10?

· Philip Turnbull-Nel, Operations Manager, Virgin Active SA Bloemfontein.

· Janine Kwan, Group Finance Manager, Virgin Management Limited

· Geoff Baker, Customer Service Advisor, Virgin Trains

· Ricky Matharu, Elite Personal Trainer – Stockley Park, Virgin Active

· Toni Waters, Recruitment Manager, Assura Medical

· Nikki Robinson, Change Manager, Virgin Media 

· Karen Hall, Senior Marketing Manager, Virgin Money Australia 

· Bill Longstreet, Pilot, Virgin America

· Jill Fletcher, Social Media Manager, Virgin America

· Shimon Westby, Finance, Virgin Mobile Canada

Follow the group as they go on an adventure of a lifetime…

                                              Facebook
The Staff Connection team will be taking over the Virgin Unite Facebook page from 7-14 May. The team will post daily updates, pictures and videos allowing their friends, family and colleagues to keep up to date and leave messages as they transform the newly built crèche. (Note that people will need to be a fan of Virgin Unite on Facebook (search for Virgin Unite) and follow Virgin Unite on Twitter (@virginunite)).

Twitter

The group will be tweeting daily using #SCT11. Make sure you start following @virginunite.